The issue is whether the president has the legal and ethical right to identify, target, and execute US citizens who he and his support staff have decided are enemies of the state. It is only now feeling more real, given that someon targeted could be “one of our own.”

What disturbs me is that the debate was relatively silent when we thought we were only dealing with foreign insurgents. There were few questions regarding the lack of transparency, the vague definition of imminent threat, and tolerance for “collateral damage.”

Does it really matter if these targets are US citizens or not? The technology and the policy is new and, I believe, deeply disturbing.